Day of Our Lives Star Frances Reid Dies
The daytime television mainstay was 95.
Actress Frances Reid, who starred as matriarch Alice Horton on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives for more than 40 years, died February 3, 2010, in Beverly Hills. She was 95.
Reid, who had a long history in the theater and on television at the time she started on behind Days, began with the show’s first episode in 1965 and stayed long enough in the role for her character to become a great-great grandmother.
She was born December 9, 1914, in Wichita Falls, Texas, and grew up in Berkeley, California. After graduating from the Pasadena Community Playhouse, she began to seek work as an actress. She appeared on Broadway more than a dozen times in the 1930s and 1940s, as Ophelia in Hamlet, Lady Anne in Richard III, Viola in Twelfth Night and Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite José Ferrer.
In the 1950s she began to appear on television, and scored roles on many series. These included other daytime dramas like As the World Turns and The Edge of Night. She also had roles on primetime dramas such as Wagon Train, Dr. Kildare, Perry Mason and Mr. Novak.
At the time of her death Reid was still part of the Days of Our Lives cast, but she last appeared on the program in 2007. She received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
On August 13, 2003, Reid had the distinction of being interviewed by the Television Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television. During the one-and-a-half-hour interview, conducted in Los Angeles, by Jennifer Howard, Reid began by discussing her early career working in live television and her first experiences working on daytime dramas such as Portia Faces Life and As the World Turns.
She also described in detail her longtime role as Alice Horton on Days of Our Lives from its inception to the present. She discussed her many co-stars throughout the years on the show, notably Macdonald Carey, who portrayed her character’s husband, Tom Horton.
Reid explained the production process on a daytime drama, and touched on some of the memorable storylines featured on the show throughout the years. Finally, she briefly described her involvement in the actors’ union AFTRA, and noted how important it was for her to continue working.